With a printing apparatus which receives a print job from an information processing device such as a host computer (hereafter called host) and performs printing processing, sometimes the printed material output by the printing processing is not what the user has desired. In such an event, the user returns to the host, selects the document to be printed again, starts the printing setting screen and sets the desired printing conditions to perform reprinting.
A method has been proposed to improve this complicated situation, by storing the printing data to a storage device within the printing apparatus and reprinting this.
Also, specifying instructions set beforehand as the host by the printing apparatus (for example, instructions for reprinting an entire document (or a portion thereof) which is created by a document creating software and immediately prior instructed to print) and transmitting the specified instructions to the specified host has been proposed (Japanese Patent No. 3274641).
However, with a proposal for saving the above-described printing data in the storage device within the printing apparatus, the printed data is all saved, and therefore only the amount of resources the storage device has can be saved, so there has been a disadvantage wherein the number of reprintable jobs could influence the storage device resources of the printing apparatus. Also, when a setting not changeable at the user interface of the printing apparatus is desired to be changed, there has been a disadvantage of needing to perform complicated operations such as that described above after returning to the host.
Also, with the above-described (Japanese Patent No. 3274641), only the instructions set beforehand could be transmitted. Accordingly, if the user desires that the host execute other processing (such as when a document other than the immediately prior printed document is to be reprinted, or when the user desires to freely change printing settings and perform reprinting), there has been a disadvantage wherein the user must return to the host and perform the complicated operations as described above.
Thus, as means for solving these problems, a “sample printing function” has been proposed. With this function, even after a job is transmitted from the host to the printing apparatus, the printing data of the job is held at the host without deleting it, and the user who has gone to remove the printed material from the printing apparatus side returns to the host, can use the data held therein and can perform reprinting.
This function only saves necessary printing data, and so the burden on the storage device resources is low. However, this function can be used only after this function is selected on a host setting screen in advance before first loading a document to be printed on the printing apparatus, and then performing printing setting.
Accordingly, when loading a document to be printed from the host to the printing apparatus, the user must consciously select this function. With such a situation, this is useful to a user who has mastered the function, but situations can be conceived of a user who does not know the function or who knows the function but has forgotten to select the function and thus loads the job without selecting the function.
Thus, constructing a printing environment which enables reprint jobs as desired by the user without relying on the expert level of the user or the storage device resources of the printing apparatus is desired.